In railway freight cars having hollow side sills on opposite sides of the car, a brake rod has often been passed through one of the hollow side sills to transmit brake forces from one end of the car to the other. In service water will creep along the brake rod and into the hollow side sill, causing corrosion of the side sill and/or brake rod, and possible failure of the brake rod within the hollow side sill. A fabricated rain shield has been provided at each end of the sill to reduce or eliminate moisture entering the side sill by creeping along the brake rod, to reduce corrosion of the side sill to a negligible amount, and thus reduce or eliminate the need for periodic disassembly of the brake assembly to inspect the brake rod in the sill.
However this rain shield is an expensive item to fabricate and weld in place on the car on each end of the side sill through which the brake rod passes. Furthermore it has been found that even with fabricated rain shields in place at either end of the side sill, moisture still passes through the rain shield and creeps along the brake rod in the side sill causing corrosion of the brake rod, requiring periodic, though less frequent, disassembly of the brake assembly to inspect the brake rod in the side sill. Furthermore on some occasions moisture has collected within the metal rain shield and then frozen, freezing the brake lever in place. To free the brake lever has required thawing or pounding of the lever and/or housing.
Brake rods are also passed through hollow center sills, and through other hollow structural members, resulting in similar corrosion problems resulting from moisture.